1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a new form of data entry device for a data processing system. More particularly, it relates to such a data entry device especially adapted for a portable computer or computer terminal. The current invention also relates to an improved form of portable audio/visual equipment, such as cameras, microphones, monitors, remote controls and recorders. It further relates to telecommunications equipment such as telephones and emergency telephone ("911") services. The current invention also relates to MIDI controllers. Most especially, the invention relates to attachment of any such devices to a user's arm and/or hand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most known keyboards used for computer data entry directly resemble the venerable "QWERTY" keyboard of a typewriter, consisting of a rectangular, planar cluster of depressible buttons usually mounted on a unitary plastic housing; such keyboards may be physically separate from the computer to which they input information, as in the case of desktop computers, or they may be one part of an integrated product, as with most laptop computers. In using such a keyboard, the fingers of the user's left and right hands access their respective keys in a manner which is essentially symmetrical.
Most attempts at making the computer data-entry keyboard more compatible with human physiology and preferences, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,728 to Goldstein and U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,333 to Conway, have simply involved new variations of this same old typewriter concept. As such, they offer, at best, a smaller amount of the same problems, namely: (1) immobility, binding the user to a desk and a chair, thereby eventually causing physical fatigue and strain of the user's back, neck, shoulders and arms, and (2) unnatural physical interface between user and device, causing stress and contortion of the hands and wrists of the user, which may result in health problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, etc.
Other designs, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,573 to Retter and U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,709 to Niklsbacher, have attempted to provide an input device which is more suitable to the human hand. These designs provide some sort of palm supporting structure upon which the hand can rest, thereby decreasing some of the strain to the user's hands, wrists and forearms. However, these designs do nothing to alleviate the immobility problem described above, and they introduce yet another problem: the necessity of learning a new way to type and a new feel for the keyboard. In other words, such new designs suffer from a lack of user-friendliness; they are counter-intuitive for the modern computer user.
Still other designs have maintained a certain amount of user-friendliness while alleviating some of the unnaturalness of hand and finger position which traditional keyboards necessitate. The pyramid design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,449 to Danziger provides at least a small hand-supporting structure and an advantageous key placement while remaining relatively intuitive in terms of operability. It also provides, apparently as an afterthought, a way to dangle the entire keyboard from a user's arm, presumably for portability. This attachment, however, through which a desktop keyboard simply hangs out from under the user's arm instead, is too awkward and cumbersome ever to be realistically used or usable for genuinely portable purposes. Thus, this design still forces the user to sit at a desk, again causing the back, neck and shoulder strain and discomfort implicit therein.
A similar afterthought approach to resolving the problems which arise when users are bound to a desk appears in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,786 to Rader. That design simply shifts the data input device from desktop to armrest, perhaps an improvement but not a solution.
The only prior full-size computer or keyboard design which makes a realistic attempt at genuine mobility is that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,730 to Lookofsky. Conceptually, that design is simply an overgrown wristwatch calculator; indeed, the only prior art to which the Lookofsky patent document refers are the wristwatch disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,801 to Ode et al, and the wristwatch calculator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,074 to Popper. The Lookofsky design makes no attempt to change the means of input itself or otherwise to accommodate the purpose of portability, adding nothing to the prior art but a bigger wristwatch calculator which holds more processing hardware and a bigger monitor. Thus, in the Lookofsky design, a standard computer keyboard is strapped to the user's arm. The readily apparent drawback of such an approach is that it forces the user--unless he is a contortionist--to access all keys of the keyboard with but one hand, just as one uses a smaller wristwatch calculator or any of the "handheld PC's" which have recently flooded the marketplace.
Ultimately, the problem which plagues all prior post-QWERTY keyboards is this: while they may create small gains in comfort and/or efficiency of movement, these gains are insufficient to justify the effort and expense on the part of the consumers expected to buy and learn to use such new devices. Thus, these products never attain acceptance or common usage. Only a device whose advantages represent a quantum leap in computer or keyboard design will successfully overcome consumer inertia and bring the health and mobility benefits of a post-QWERTY input device to the mass public.
The Key Palette, disclosed herein, is such a quantum leap. It is more portable and mobile than any computer or keyboard design which allows the user to use both hands, and it is easier to use than the wristwatch calculator designs or the handheld PC's, which can only be accessed with one hand (and are often accessed with one finger). Thus, in maximizing the twin goals of portability and accessibility, the Key Palette represents the twenty-first century alternative to the nineteenth-century keyboard and its various modifications.
Known portable monitors include those which are worn over one eye like a monocle or half-pair of sunglasses. Such "visor monitors" are used by ViA Inc., Northfield, Minn., in conjunction with that company's new belt-mounted computer system. Such monitors are not ideal in that they make the user look like a space alien and they obstruct the user's vision. The long-term health effects of this one-eyed approach are also uncertain.
Other known portable monitors include those appearing on wristwatches, wristwatch calculators and the Lookofsky arm-mounted computer. These monitors are not ideal in that they require the user to hold his arm at a particular angle in order for the monitor to be viewed optimally. One other portable monitor is that which comes attached to some home video cameras made by Sharp. The current invention provides a monitor which is more fully mobile, adjustable and easier to carry than prior portably monitors and is thus ideally suited for use with voice-recognition or pen tablet data input systems.
Myriad handheld tape recorders, microphones, TV remote controls, wireless and cellular telephones, and video cameras are known. MIDI controllers/keyboards are known. The present invention is novel with respect to these devices in that it performs the functions of such devices with greater ease and mobility and allows "hands free" carriage. In the case of portable cameras, the current invention also provides greater stability than is possible with known handheld cameras and camcorders.
Known means of attaching a mechanical or electrical device to a user's arm are very straightforward: just strap the device on like a watch, as in Lookofsky, or dangle it from one's wrist like a handcuff, as in Danziger. In such limited designs, a user who wants to revolve his watch or other device around his arm must twist the entire apparatus, thereby rubbing the device and band against his skin. The current invention provides a variety of means which allow a user to revolve arm-mounted devices fully or partially around his arm without anything rubbing against his skin. This invention also allows devices to be mounted in such a way as to enable them to swivel and tilt as well as revolve independently of the user's arm position. Such total mobility and adjustability have been heretofore unavailable.
Garmin makes a personal navigation system which, through the signals of the Global Positioning System satellites, can determine the location of the unit within about fifteen meters. The current invention incorporates such capabilities with those of the Key Palette to create a unique system for emergency calls to "911."